Pamela Fancy 14 month Border Collie USA

Very nice! 🙂
“She played with me for 2 minutes – that’s big!”
Awesome! 🙂

“One time she was slow to come back but only because she couldn’t find the meatball in the leaves”
No problem, that is perfectly normal, it will happen again, especially when you start with even longer throws. But that is just a good opportunity for you to run even further away or hide better. 🙂

Overall I have no “complaints” – all done very well, you can just switch it to an even higher gear. Use the whole space even if you run out of camera frame from time to time. More running adds to the excitement and the challenge of really finding you if you hide behind the trees when she is not watching… will keep her stimulated even longer.

I really enjoy watching her come out of her shell. 🙂 Displaying a lot more excitement and emotions and it is just the beginning! You don’t have to shy away from distractions as long as she is still able to find you and cooperate. 🙂 To maximise your “power” against distractions, upgrade the dynamic of the game even more. When she comes to find you and she is just about to reach you, escape her on the other side of the tree and throw the next treat when she catches up, than immediately run fast in a totally different direction. If she leaves at any point, just stay quiet and hidden (exactly what you did in that session! :)) until she finds you and then switch to fast action. Allowing the dog to go and check something out is a key element of building good focus. If we always try to stop the dog from going away, we become the annoying person that always keeps them from doing something they believe to be more fun. If we let them explore (especially when we know that whatever they might find is not really all that exciting) and present a super cool alternative once they find us, the environment looses its power. If there is no “fence” the “grass” is no longer “greener”…

She was working so hard to stay focused! When she struggles you can make it easier for her. The point of engagement is that she looks at you, so even if she is not feeling to jump up yet, you can reward the attention itself. And when it is difficult, I always start running backwards as soon as my dog looks up, because movement is the most stimulating thing of all and it helps them not think of a distraction. Like for example at 0.18-0.19 she was first standing by your leg and than she decided to look up. I would react with movement + reward in that exact moment.
In your case even not reacting turned out well, because she did intensify her efforts, but sometimes when the distraction is really hard or the dog is just tired (or having some pilled up emotions from before), not acknowledging their little effort can mean that you loose them completely.

You don’t have to quit waiting for a jump up in every situation – it is just important that you observe her and can tell when it is ok to ask for more or when giving you attention is the best she can do. I feel like she liked to jump up – it gave her some extra energy, but if she was a bit distracted she was on the fine border between being able to concentrate and offer more, or loosing the attention again.
All and all you2 have build up a nice game, the next things you can do is upgrade the dynamic even more – get really big treats and throw them FAR away so you have time to really sprint away from her as far as you possibly can. The more distance you manage to create, the more fun she will have. OR you can use a food scatter (go sniff) and find a place to really hide from her.
Also – I don’t know your daily routines or where you go to train your dogs, but if you manage to do this game in some other location sometimes, that would also be great. So she doesn’t just associate it with a particular place and/or time.

Yes I see, she was very “wired” from before. Next time she is like that I suggest the following – start with normal engagement and as soon as she gives you first contact, run away from her full speed into fast and full on food throwing game, dropping the leash so she can follow freely. If she leaves the game to go check sis out, just hide and wait for her to come for you. When she does, get really active again.
The more action you provide the easier it will be for her to stay focused and channel that build up energy into something constructive.
Good luck on your competition! 🙂

Nice! Considering she likes to play, you can skip the slow introduction and just play like you would normally play with the toy, following my tips from topic 2 – meaning there is no limit for how fast and exciting the chase can be, the faster the better. Only make sure that at one point you allow a good opportunity to catch the toy (by not changing directions of movement too rapidly) so Fancy doesn’t feel like you are “messing” with her.
When she bites try to not move the toy so rapidly all the time and rather focus on pulling so she can begin to offer some resistance – leaning back and pulling herself. And the most important part – letting the toy go (completely!) has to happen as a consequence to her action, meaning when she is resisting and pulling nicely. That way you encourage her towards being active and understanding that she plays a role in this game. If you just keep “shaking her around” and then let go whenever you decide to do so, she will just passively hold on and wait for you to decide when it is enough. That way the game is way less inclusive and rewarding for her. So take a look at my tugging video in topic 2 and try to incorporate that into both your food pocket toy games and regular toy games. 🙂